Duncan Grisby

Note: I am not currently seeking permanent employment. I may be interested in short-term contract offers.

Profile

I am an experienced software architect and developer, specialising in large-scale distributed systems design and implementation. My primary skills are:

C++ and Python for robust, high-performance distributed programming.
Unix/Linux and Windows platforms.
CORBA, XML and Web Services.
Experienced public speaker and seminar leader.
Good theoretical grounding in computer science.
Quick to learn new programming languages, skills and technologies.

Employment

October 2002 -- current: Tideway Systems Ltd

I am co-founder and chief software architect at Tideway Systems Ltd. I am responsible for the design and implementation of innovative enterprise software.

May 2002 -- current: Independent contractor

I have been working as a consultant on a number of large scale distributed systems projects at clients including GlaxoSmithKline and Global Phasing.

March 1999 -- April 2002: Researcher, AT&T Laboratories Cambridge

At AT&T Laboratories, I worked on distributed systems and middleware. I was the lead developer of omniORB, an open source CORBA implementation for C++ and Python. omniORB is in critical use by thousands of developers around the world. It is renowned for its high performance, robustness, and standards compliance.

Some highlights of my work include:

Wrote a flexible compiler for the CORBA Interface Definition Language. The compiler is less than half the size of the compiler it replaced, despite having a larger feature set and significantly better standards compliance.
Designed and implemented omniORB's efficient binding to Python.
Implemented many CORBA core facilities, including wide string support, fixed point arithmetic, and an efficient in-process call mechanism.
Developed techniques to aid performance and stability of heavily multi-threaded code.
Gained expertise in writing extremely portable code.
Was invited to present tutorials and talks on distributed application design at international conferences and seminars.
Represented AT&T Labs in the Object Management Group's CORBA Open Source Testing project.
Collaborated with omniORB users in designing CORBA-based distributed applications.

Education

1995--1999: PhD in Computer Science, University of Cambridge

My PhD research focussed on a distributed windowing system that could adapt to changes in the user's circumstances and location. As a large-scale distributed application it had to manage issues including:

Distributed state management and garbage collection.
Object migration.
Extensibility of deployed objects.
Management of network latency.

Many of the techniques I developed as part of my PhD have been useful in later work. The software I wrote was a combination of C++ and Java.

1992--1995: BA (Hons) in Computer Science, University of Cambridge

Part I: Class 1

Part 2: Class 2-1

External activities

I teach undergraduate computer scientists as part of the Cambridge supervision system.

I am part-way through writing a book on distributed programming with Python. The book covers available technologies, and advice on how to apply them to solve common application requirements. Several publishers have expressed interest in the book.

I am keen on photography, including developing and printing my own black-and-white pictures. I enjoy martial arts, and I am the assistant instructor at a local kickboxing club.

Personal details

I am looking for opportunities due to the closure of AT&T Laboratories Cambridge.

Self-motivated and good at working under pressure.
Full clean driving license.

Reference

Professor Andy Hopper FREng
Laboratory for Communication Engineering
William Gates Building
JJ Thomson Avenue
Cambridge CB3 0FD
UK